Final Fantasy VIII: Rise of Shinra
by QPallyFC
Summary: What if the Shinra company actually existed in FFVIII? What if they still had the same goals as before? and what trouble will they bring when they challenge SeeD? First FanFic R&R. Rated Mature for future chapters.
1. Dealings With The Devil

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and locations, all characters and locations are from Final Fantasy VIII/VII and are the property of Square Enix.

Chapter 1: Dealings with the Devil

Deling City: Presidential residence

"Sir" Said a women's voice from outside the office door

"Yes what is it?" as the president raised his head from the papers he was reading.

"It's your half two meeting sir" came the voice again.

"Okay, send them in" as he got up from his desk and making his way to the drink cabinet.

The door opened and entered a woman in a very formal red suit with short blonde hair; she began making her way towards the seat next to the president's desk.

"Hello Scarlet" the president said as the women sat on the seat "Could I interest you in a drink?"

"Hello President Caraway and a scotch if you wouldn't mind" replied Scarlet taking her seat.

"You think I would know by now" was Caraways response as he poured two scotches and took them to the desk and placed them down after having to rearrange the mountains of paperwork he was still to get through.

"So Scarlet what can I do for you? Considering it was Shinra that requested this little meeting" Caraway asked

Scarlet then proceeded to take a sip of her drink and then place it on the table before turning to face Caraway. "Well as you know the Shinra Corporation has been the main supplier of weapons to the Galbadian army for almost twenty years, since the beginning of Presidents Deling's reign"

"Yes I know an exclusive contract I believe, which in return Shinra receives generous funding from us" Caraway responded

"Yes a very generous contract indeed, but I am here to ask that our funding be increased" said Scarlet before taking another drink and then again placing it on the table.

"Why?" Caraway responded "The funding you receive from us is more than adequate"

"Yes it is but do you remember a proposal made three months ago about a project, titled project S, the extra funding would be put into the development of this project" replied Scarlet

"If I remember correctly I rejected this proposal because it involved the enhancement of soldiers using sorceress DNA" questioned Caraway.

"Yes sir but if you just hear me out I am sure you would agree the benefits are worth it, just listen"

"NO!!!" Caraway interrupted "I will not change my position on this it is both extremely dangerous and foolish and I will not allow it to happen, also this countries recent history with the sorceress must be taken into account, so no and I do not want to hear of this proposal again, and if you are finished I would appreciate you leaving" Caraway said with a serious expression on his face, it was encounters like this that he believed made him look older than he actually was.

"Of course" Scarlet replied as she stood up "But just as a passing mention you are aware that there are a number of groups within Galbadia that oppose our arrangement, and we believe a number of them may plan to use violence to attain what they want, we are currently very disturbed to hear reports that they may have made contract offers to both Galbadia and Balamb Garden for the employment of SeeDs, we are asking if you could use your connections with both to make sure these contracts are ignored?"

"Yes I will look into it, if that is all please, I have other things to attend to" said Caraway

"Of course sir, thank you" Scarlet said as she made her way to the door.

As Scarlet left all that Caraway could do was sigh and think to himself _what did you get us into Deling, damn you……_


	2. It’s Quiet for Once

Chapter 2: It's Quiet for Once

Balamb Garden

_CRASH!!!!!_

The sound seemed to echo around the corridors of Balamb Garden

"SELPHIE, I told you to be careful with that" said Squall as he brought his hand to the bridge of his nose a tell tale sign that he was annoyed, and who could blame him as he had just watched Selphie drop his prized gunblade.

"Sorry" was the sincere reply that came from the short girl as she stared at the floor.

"Its okay" said Squall as he realized he couldn't stay mad at her given the fact it was Selphie and she had this way that would make you feel guilty even if you hadn't done anything, and she was willing to help him move his room around. As it turned out she was the only one able or willing.

Rinoa his girlfriend of the past three years was away to Timber for the week to visit Watt's and Zone, Zell had pulled out some excuse that he had to go and visit his mum in Balamb even though he had seen her the day before, Quistis and Irvine had been assigned on a mission for the last month and even though he was the commander of Balamb Garden he wasn't even allowed to know what it was about, all he knew was that they had been gone for the month and had no idea when they would be back, and had only briefly checked in from time to time.

So luckily for him Selphie was willing to help.

"So that looks like everything is done" said Selphie "Why change things around?" she asked

"Just felt like it" replied Squall

"Fair enough I guess" said Selphie "Well what do you want to do now?"

"Guess I was going to go to the training centre" Squall replied

"Ok, well I said I was going to meet Nida and Xu in the quad to just relax a bit, why don't you come?" asked Selphie

"Maybe later" replied Squall

"Okay see ya later" as Selphie made her way out of the door.

"Thanks for the help" Squall shouted after her.

After Selphie had left Squall made sure everything was in its place and then grabbed the gunblade making sure it wasn't damaged from Selphie dropping it and made his way to the training centre. Garden was busy at this time of the day with people going from class to class, and if not in class going back and forth from Balamb town as they had settled the Garden outside Balamb again after they realized it was too much effort to keep the Garden mobile if it didn't need to be. But they knew they could always move it again if they needed to. This meant that any long distance trip was made using the trains or the Ragnarok which was know stationed at Garden on loan for a price from Esthar. One thing that Squall was beginning to notice was the increase in the number of students who enrolled this year with it increasing significantly against that of the year before, most likely due to people's fear of joining garden after the battle with Galbadia and Ultimecia, but that had been just over three years ago so maybe the fear was starting to lose its grip.

Squall eventually reached the training centre when he heard a familiar voice call his name.

"Yo Squall" said the man behind him

As Squall turned he immediately knew that it was Zell Dincht, Gardens hand to hand combat specialist. Instantly recognisable due to his blond hair and distinctive tattoo which runs down the side of his face.

"Hey" Squall replied "I thought you were visiting your mum?"

"Huh, oh you mean that well you see, kinda tried to but she was out so, just came back to help you out but then found you were done so came here to do some training" was Zell reply as he nervously tried to cover up the holes in his little lie about visiting his mum.

"Okay" Squall replied

"Great didn't think you buy that" Zell said but seconds later realizing he had just said what he was thinking out loud "blew the cover right?" he asked Squall

"Yeah but don't worry about it Selphie helped me out but not before trying her best to wreck my gunblade" Squall said with a hint of sarcasm, sarcasm becoming ever more common over the past few years in conversations with Squall, he was also known to make a joke and get involved in conversations about any foolish thing well at least in the company of his five closest friends, things that were unheard of three years ago.

"So going to do some training?" asked Zell

"Yeah" Squall replied "You?"

"Yep, mind the company?" Zell asked

"Not really but I'm not saving you if you screw up" said Squall

"Okay, let's go" Zell said maybe a bit too enthusiastically for Squalls liking

As they turned to enter the training centre the intercom announced.

"_The following report to the headmaster's office immediately Squall Leonheart, Zell Dincht and Selphie Tilmit."_

"Guess we better go" said Zell as both him and Squall started walking towards the lift.


	3. I Knew it Couldn’t Last

Chapter 3: I knew it couldn't last

As the lift doors opened Squall and Zell found that Selphie was already there and appeared to be getting rather impatient as she paced back and forth in front of the headmaster Cid's office door.

"How long is this gonna take? Xu went in already" she seemed to be saying to herself because she hadn't spotted Squall or Zell.

"Shouldn't be that long" said Zell seemingly making Selphie jump a bit.

"Don't surprise me like that" with Selphie seemingly scolding Zell.

"Sorry" was the reply as Zell stared at the floor trying not to meet Selphie's glare, because even though Selphie was small everyone knew that she wasn't to be trifled with.

"Don't worry about it" she said reassuringly to Zell, it appeared she had taken some fun out of watching Zell squirm.

As soon as this exchange had finished taking place the doors to Cid's office opened and inside they could see that Cid was on the phone and Xu was standing next to him with Cid in what appeared to be in a rather angry conversation with whoever was on the other end, and just hearing the end of it.

"I don't care, you find my people or I swear, oh never mind you're not worth it" he finished and slammed the phone down and seemingly taking a moment to regain his composure, before finally looking at the three SeeDs in front of him.

Cid spoke first "Please take a seat"

As each of them moved to their seats Squall just had to ask "What's wrong sir?"

Cid replied "In a moment"

He then moved towards the window and took a few deep breaths and then asked Xu "Please hand them the folders"

"Yes sir" was Xu's reply as she moved and handed each of them a folder.

Once each of them was given a folder Xu took a seat next to them and they all waited for the headmaster to take his seat and when he did he began to speak "Well I am sorry you all had to see that but I guess it couldn't be helped" saying this while looking rather embarrassed, "but it is a difficult situation, and that is why I called you here"

"As you all know about a month ago Quistis Trepe and Irvine Kinneas were contracted for a long term assignment, the details of this assignment being a closely guarded secret" Said Cid and then waiting for whatever comments that were to be made and he was right.

"No kidding" said Squall "I am supposedly the military commander of Balamb Garden and even I wasn't told, and when I try to access the mission file I am locked out"

"Yes I remember your protests last month" Cid responded now taking a standing position.

"But it was necessary at our clients request; security here was most definitely needed given the sensitivity of the mission. But know I think you need to know given the most recent developments" said Cid

"Recent developments sir?" asked Squall

"As you know we have only heard from Quistis and Irvine in very short and far between communications at all times during scheduled reports, they haven't made their last two" Said Cid the worry clearly showing on his face.

"What are you saying?" said Zell jumping out of his seat.

"What I am saying Mr. Dincht is that both Quistis Trepe and Irvine Kinneas are now officially listed as MIA and I want you three to find out what happened to them" Cid said seemingly annoyed by Zell's outburst, which caused Zell to retake his seat.

"So who was the client and what was the mission they were on?" said Selphie who looked extremely shaken by the news regarding Quistis and Irvine. At the same time it was clear to see that Squall, Zell and Xu felt the same way

Cid again retaking his seated position obviously feeling very uneasy about the situation and then he spoke "The client was the Esthar government and the mission was to investigate the Galbadian based Shinra Corporation"

"You mean the weapons manufacturer?" asked Squall

"Yes, the one in the same, Esthar said that they had suspicions that they were developing some secret projects, a few of them the Galbadian government doesn't even know about" Said Cid

"But the Galbadians provide almost all of their funding and it is an exclusive contract between the two, the Galbadians are there sole client so how would they fund these ones on the side?" asked Squall

Cid looked at Squall then replied "You don't think they just provide the Galbadians with weapons, we have heard rumors from as far back as the invasion of Timber that Shinra were selling small amounts of weapons to the Timber army behind the Galbadians backs they were never enough to help Timber but always enough for Shinra to make a small profit on the side, if this is true this money is most likely used to fund these operations, but these are just suspicions"

After taking a few breaths Cid continued "Esthar offered us a contract to investigate these claims and we agreed to it we chose Quistis and Irvine because of Quistis experience and Irvine's knowledge of Galbadia, But it had to be kept quiet because if Shinra and Galbadia find out what we are doing it could have caused an international incident so only me and those two knew and we locked the file, and now they have went missing, I guess it is my fault should have never accepted this contract, should have known better, But now I order you three to locate them you will begin in Deling city and you leave immediately gather your things and be at the front gate in an hour, dismissed, oh yes I took the liberty of informing Miss Heartilly she will meet you at the Galbadia hotel later tonight she was going to get the next train from Timber, good luck."

The three stood after this and saluted to Cid who returned it, they then made there way to the lift and entered it. At this point Xu walked to Cid and put a hand on his shoulder and said "They will be alright and they will find Quistis and Irvine"

Cid replied "I hope so, I hope so"


End file.
